Amish Marathon Runner

These religion mandated ticks and eccentricities are all ploys to keep "the faithful" in line. While I know that some of the dietary regimes of Judaism and Muslimism made perfect sense when their adherents were living in a hot, dry desert with no reliable method to keep foods (pork, milk, etc) fresh modern appliances are (and have been) available for a very long time.

The Catholic's fish on Fridays grew out of a patriotic movement to allow more beef to be available to our troops fighting in the war. (WWI??)

But using clothing and/or hair to define a level of devout ahearance is just, plain, madness and in some cases cruel on the boarding on sadistic.

My 2¢

Madness? Really? I find the Amish clothing and way of life charming.

Admittedly, the Amish and Mennonite with their clothing, under 'normal' situations isn't that bad but making a kid run 26 miles fully clothed is .......

Then, have you ever seen an Hasidic Jew in full regalia walking the noonday streets in Miami's summer?

Expat,

I see nothing in the article about "making" him do anything. If he chooses to do this as an expression of faith, more power to him.

That was Expat's point, some religions are full of unnecessary rules that can sometimes cause harm to the faithful. There comes a time when 'that's just the way it has always been' is not a good enough reason anymore.

He's Gump, He's Gump, He's Gump.
He's kinda square.
He's Gump, He's Gump, He's Gump.
What's with that hair?

I'd think the pants would chafe his legs something fierce. Running gear is based around function as much as fashion.

As for "making" him do things, Amish walk an interesting line. There is a huge amount of stuff that comes as a package deal when choosing to adhere to the Amish lifestyle, but on the other hand they also make a point of not just assuming that children raised in Amish communities will choose to follow that path. At just about the age of this runner they send them off to try out life in the mainstream world and only if they choose to return and live the life they grew up with are they confirmed as members of the Amish community.

I'd find if refreshing if other faiths encouraged people to make similarly informed choices rather than just claiming children of faithful parents as de facto members of the religious communities they grew up in.

It's called Rumspringa Miles. But if the teens choose to live like the English instead of Amish they are no longer welcome and are shunned by the whole community. That includes parents and siblings, no one will speak to or look at them again. Harsh and sad, what kind of choice is that really?

Yeah Patty, the whole shunning thing is pretty bad, but to be fair a number of other religions do that too. As you can probably tell, I wouldn't fit in very well with any religion so it's easy for me to focus on individual details rather than the complete picture of what it would be like to live any of them. Both my parents are very religious and I can respect those who take that path, but it's never been for me.

If he's that much into "plain dress", surely he would object to having his photo taken. Given some of attitudes towards bright colors and slow vehicle placards on buggies, that red race number is going to catch him all kinds of grief.

According to Wikipedia, religious groups are not the only ones that shun, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunning

Wonder what would happen if you walked through a college campus wearing a t-shirt condemning abortion or homosexuality, or, heaven forbid, a confederate flag?